The usual freight railway car has a car body supported on at least one, and usually two, wheeled trucks that are confined to roll on rails. Typically, such wheeled trucks have brake shoes mounted near to each wheel. The brake shoes are mounted to brake beams by brake shoe keys. The brake shoe keys extend through brackets on the brake shoes and brake beams. As the brake shoes become worn, it is necessary to replace the worn parts, requiring that the brake shoes be removed from the brake beams by removing the brake keys.
Many railway cars are also equipped with steering arms. Steering arms are used to control trucks, especially against hunting or lateral movement during travel around curves. When a railway car truck is equipped with steering arms, removal of a brake shoe generally requires that the steering arms have aligned openings in their top and bottom surfaces through which the brake key may be pushed or pulled. When such brake shoes and steering arms are used with railway cars having a sill that overlies the side frames of the truck, such as in autorack and well cars, removal of the brake shoe keys becomes more difficult for the worker. In such situations, there is little room for the worker to work the key out from its location: there may be little space below for hammering or pounding the key up from below; and the hole or opening in the top of the steering arm is located inboard of the side sill, requiring the worker to reach over the top of the side frame, between the sill and the side frame to pull the brake shoe key out through the steering arm openings. Thus, the worker may have to work without a visual reference when finally removing the brake shoe key. Similarly, when attempting to install a new brake shoe key, the worker may not be able to conveniently see the brake shoe key as it is being installed.